Jail door mechanism



June 23, 1931. A. E. sHANK E1- AL 1,811,246

JAIL DOOR MECHANISM l Filed May 9. 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENTORSTORNEYJ June 23, 1931. A. E. sHANK ET AL.

JAIL DOOR MECHANISM Filed lay 9, 1930 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ffy'. z

Patented June 23, 1931 11N ITED STATES gaivrrruit E. snANK, oryCLEVELANDy HEIGHTS, GorrrErED ErsLEE, or CLEVELAND,

NT QFFICE AND roHN M. LINDEN, or Ens'r CLEVELAND, "onro, AssrGNoRs 'roTHE VAN non-N IRON WORKS COMPANY, orY CLEVELAND, omo, Aconnota/rr10N,or,01110 i JAIL noon MECHANrsM Appucatin flied May e,1930. serial No. 451,020.

This inventionV relates -to jail-door controlling mechanismadapted forapplication to the sliding doors of a row of jail cells wherein, by themechanism, any or all of Athe doorsmay, from a common pomt be movedbetween` open and closed positions and positively locked in eitherposition.

Such general type offmechanism' is shown 1n Patent NOS. 1,548,140,1,587,810, 1,858,148

ments thereof; means such as a wedge bar for elevating the latch boltabove the gap nut, whereby a pull bar with which all of the gap nuts arerigidly associated may be manipulated `to ymove another door 1ndependentof that under consideration; and

means such as a lock barengageable by :the

latchbolt when the door is fully opened or closed and when the latchbolt is raised to release the door from the gap nut, for locking thedoor in saidA position thereof. Then the door is thus locked byinterengagement of the latch bolt and loclrbar 'in` say open position,`and itis desired-to close `the door by the gap nut, and the wedge barislowered for the purpose of-flowering the latch bolt, it has beenfoundthat such unauthorized pressure niay be exerted directly on thedoor -ina direction of.V its sliding movement, that the latch bolt maybe` pre'- vented from dropping to engage thegap nut so that the lattermay then movewithout moving Vthe door; after which the pressure may beterminated, allowing the'latch'bolt to drop without engaginL the gapnut, thus leaving the door open an unlocked.

-It is the vobject ezt this invention to elimivbolt.`

nate-the possibility of such asituation, and to this end to providemeans for causing latch bolt lreleasing movement; of the lock bar, whentheV wedge bar is s'et to lower the latch bolt andas the gap'nut startsits movement from the corresponding position. More particularly theinvention comprises a dog associated with` thegapnut, and tripper meansassociated withthe lock bar and with the wedge bar; the tripper meansincluding a trip pin arranged to be lowered into the pathcf the dogwhenthe wedge bar islowered to allow llowering of the latch The exact natureof -this invention'together with further objects and advantagesthereofwill be apparent from thezfollowingdescription taken inconnection with the accompanying drawings, in whichv Fig. 1 is a viewvgenerally inV elevation andpartlywin section showinga partiallyopensliding -vjail door and operating mechanismv therefor, Hthe metalcover plate-for this `operating mechanism being removed thatV thelattermay appear; Fig. 2 is generally van end elevation: of-

the same Yas looking from the right, Fig. 1;

yFigis'an enlarged viewfof parts appearing 1n Fig. 1 Villustrating vthepreferred emfbodimentof this invention; Fig.4is a showing in endelevation of partsappearing in .Fig asviewed from the' left'Fig. 3; and-F1g. 5 isa section as in the plane of line .5*'5,F1g. e.

With referencenow to the drawings, '1 is 'acell door` carried lbyahanger 2fhaving wheels 3 rolling-on ways 4 between dooropen anddoor-closed positions. 4 areywithnahousing zhavinga vcover platefremoved to show theparts normally .a enclosed. The door appearsiinFig."1'in mid 4 l position,l movableto the right'toclose and to the leftto-op'en. A gap nut 71is provided with wheels 8 vfor movement'corresponding yto the door movement uponsuitable ways 9.

The ways It will be appreciated that whereas onlyy one door-and V itsoperating"'mechanism` are f shown, ,in an actual'installation, embodying.arrow of fcells, a number' ofv doors will be found. Thus the shown ganut '-may be of a number of gagna s, one lfor each 1 door, all mountedupon a pull bar 10 as indicated, whereby each gap nut may be givenreciprocal movement corresponding to that of which its door is capable.The door l is associable with its gap nut 7 to be actuated thereby, byalatch 'bolt 11 'vertically slidable in a bracket 12 carried by the doorhanger 2,

`the lower .extremity of .the latch -bolt being 'the plane of movementof a notchlB provided on the upper faceof the. gap nut.

The bolt 11 is supported by a wedge bar 14 through a roller 15 runningon the wedge bar. The wedge bar is adjustable with parallel motion toadjust ythe elevation of the latch bolt 11. For this purpose one end yofthe wedge bar is supported on a roller16 :carried by a bracket 17, andprovided with a cam 18; and the other end of the wedge bar is connectedwith the crank-'end of a link 19, the opposite end of which link issecured by a bracket `20. By this means, lreferring to the showing ofFig. 1, a movement to the right of the wedge bar will cause itselevation and fhence that of the latch bolt 11, regardless oftheposition of the door 1. The `specific means by which -the wedge bar isshifted Ileft and right and thus up and down lis immaterial, but asshown comprises linkage including pull rod 21, bell crank 22, link 23,lever 24 and :rod 25.

By such control means the latch bolt may be caused to assume any ofitsthree principal elevations: lowermost, in which it will drop into the:notch Y13 ofthe gap nut 'to be positively engaged for actuation ineither left or right direction; uppermost, in which `the gap nut iscleared entirely; and intervmediate., in which fthe gap nut will engagethe latch bolt to close vthe -doorbut not open it. Fig. 1 shows thelatch bolt in lower-most position.

bar is provided with a notch -:29 located to .engage the dog 11a whenthe door is in full open position and fthe bolt 11 is `raised vto :clear.the gap nut 7. Similarly thelock bar '.27 extends towards door-.closedposition to engage a'projection associated withthe bolt, `to -lock ythedoor 'in closed position while the gap nut 4is moved therefrom.

What has thus far been described is not new inthe art. It will benoticed, however,

that lower-ing of -"the latch bolt is notpositive, ibut effected only bygravity. Thus it has been found when the door is locked by on 'the doorin the directionrof its :movement that the latch bolt will be Aretainedvin elevated position so that the gap nut may be moved without causing.the intended corresponding door movement; whereupon release of thispressure allows the latch bolt to drop clear of the lock bar, leavingthe door free, and this without the knowledge of the rightful operatorpositioned at the end of the vrow of cells.

As stated it is the object of this invention to Vprevent such apossibility. To this :end =`a bell crank 30 is mounted -on the pin '31lvby which the crank 'end of the link 19 has its connection with thewedge bar 14. This bell crank has the armfindicated engaging the pin 532by which the llink 19 is mounted on-the bracket 20; so that the`bell-crank isv caused to yfollow motions of the link. Loosely mountedvon the bell crank lby means of the pin -33 is a vertical lever T84extending above the wedge bar S14 'and below `the bell crank 30 asindicated. Obviously the lever 34 may vhave uzp and down Iparalilelmotion as the bell .crank f3() moves about the pin 32, and the lever mayalso have pivotal motion about the pin .33.

The upper extremity :of ithe lever hasconnection, as by a chain35running over sheave 36 carried by the bracket 20, with the near and freeextremity of the lock bar 26. Upon the lower extremity of the lever `134-is secured a housing 37 having :a vertical slot 38 in which a trip 39-is slidable, with move-l ment limited by engagement of 'the pin '40carried by the trip 39 and extending into the opening 41 in the housing37.

Secured upon the corresponding end of the gap nut -7 is a dog 42 intothe path fof movement of which :the trip B9 projects when the wedgebar14 is lin Iits lowermost position which is las indicated Fig. I3 inwhich .the gap'nut 7 is at its left-hand or -door-open extreme position,the vtrip 139 'being chamferred-as indicated to allow the dog Vto ridetherepastto arrive at the shown position.

Suppose now the parts as indicated, 'the wedge bar flowered to allow thelatch bolt to drop to engage the gap nut, but'the latch bolt actuallymaintained raised, engaged by the lock bar, by unauthorized pressureupon 'the door. As the -gap -nut moves to lthe right, `Vthroughengagement of the dog 42 with the trip '89, a -counterclockwise motionvi's imparted tothe lever 34, which through the chai-n 35 vraises thelock bar -26 above `the upper limit of latch bolt movement; whichpositively frees the latch bolt 'from the lock bar insuring lowering ofthe .latch bolt 'b gravity in time 'to `engage the gap nu"t," thati`kl"lis, before the gap nut notch 13 passes'the and thus insure engagement ofthe latch bolt with the gap nut.

latch bolt.

Assuming now the wedge bar 14 raised to free the latch bolt from the gapnut, the bell crank 30 moves clockwise about the bolt 32 to raise thelever 34 bodily, lower the free end of the lock bar 26 and raise thevtripy 39 clear of the dog 42. Thus locking engagement of the latch boltwith the lock bar is insured, and at the same time return movement tothe right of the gap nut 7 without affecting the lever 34 and thus thelock bar, is permitted.

While this invention is actually shown applied to the lock bar 26 onlyit will be evident that it could as well be applied to the lother lockbar 27 by which the door is maintained in closed position. It is moreimporta-nt of course to insure closing of the door by the gap nut whenintended, than it is to insure opening of the door; whereforeapplication of the invention to the dooropen lock bar has been chosenfor illustration.

What we claim is:

1. In an apparatus of the class described and including a sliding door,means for moving the same between open and closed positions andincluding a gap nut movablefbetween corresponding positions andoperatorcontrolled means for associating the door with said gap nut tocause the door to follow the gap nut movements, a lock bar for securingthe door in one of said positions when the door is released from saidgap nut, and means adapted when the door is secured by said lock bar andthe gap nut is in its corresponding position, to cause releasingmovement of said lock bar upon movement of the gap nut from its saidposition.

2. In an apparatus of the class described and including a sliding door,means for moving the same between open and closed positions andincluding a gap nut movable between corresponding posit-ions, a latchbolt arranged to be lowered to associate said door with said gap nut tocause the door to follow gap nut movements and operator-operated meansfor supporting said latch bolt in adjusted positions to control saidassociation, a lock bar engageable with said latch bolt when the door isin one of said positions and the latch bolt is elevated above said gapnut, whereby the door may remain locked in said position while the gapnut is not in corresponding position, and cooperative means associatedwith said lock bar and with said gap nut respectively and adapted to actas said gap nut moves from said corresponding position and when saidoperator-operated means is positioned to allow lowering of the latchbolt upon the gap nut, to cause movement of the lock bar to release thelatch bolt In testimony whereof we hereby aix our.

signatures.

ARTHUR E. SHANK. GOTTFRIED FISLER. JOHN M. LINDEN.

